Cargando…

Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective

BACKGROUND: There are unequivocal health disparities, both physical and mental, between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada. METHODS: Utilizing narrative inquiry, 15 néhiyawak (Plains Cree people) between 18 and 71 years of age from Thunderchild First Nation were interviewed to explo...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Graham, Holly, Martin, Stephanie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27688797
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13033-016-0086-2
_version_ 1782454789074845696
author Graham, Holly
Martin, Stephanie
author_facet Graham, Holly
Martin, Stephanie
author_sort Graham, Holly
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: There are unequivocal health disparities, both physical and mental, between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada. METHODS: Utilizing narrative inquiry, 15 néhiyawak (Plains Cree people) between 18 and 71 years of age from Thunderchild First Nation were interviewed to explore what improved their mental health and well-being and what they needed to attain optimal mental health and well-being. By posing questions that focused on the positive, the strengths and resilience of the néhiyawak came to the forefront. RESULTS: Narrative thematic analysis of interview data consistently revealed four overarching themes that highlighted what positively impacted néhiyawak mental health and well-being and their perceived needs to attain optimal mental health and well-being: relationships; spiritual beliefs and cultural practices; tānisīsi wāpahtaman pimātisiwin (worldview); and ēkwa ōhi kikwaya piko ka-ispayiki kīspin ka-nohtē-miyo-mahcihoyān (these are the things that need to happen if I want to be healthy). The néhiyawak in this study described holistic health determinants that correlate with the medicine wheel and the determinants of health, and described these holistic health determinants as making a positive difference to their mental health and as necessary for them to obtain optimal mental health and well-being. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that mental health programming and interventions should be harmonious with Indigenous culture; utilize a holistic approach that takes physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being into consideration; and address the existing mental health disparities using the determinants of health as a framework, with an increased focus on the current socio-economic status of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5031327
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-50313272016-09-29 Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective Graham, Holly Martin, Stephanie Int J Ment Health Syst Research BACKGROUND: There are unequivocal health disparities, both physical and mental, between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada. METHODS: Utilizing narrative inquiry, 15 néhiyawak (Plains Cree people) between 18 and 71 years of age from Thunderchild First Nation were interviewed to explore what improved their mental health and well-being and what they needed to attain optimal mental health and well-being. By posing questions that focused on the positive, the strengths and resilience of the néhiyawak came to the forefront. RESULTS: Narrative thematic analysis of interview data consistently revealed four overarching themes that highlighted what positively impacted néhiyawak mental health and well-being and their perceived needs to attain optimal mental health and well-being: relationships; spiritual beliefs and cultural practices; tānisīsi wāpahtaman pimātisiwin (worldview); and ēkwa ōhi kikwaya piko ka-ispayiki kīspin ka-nohtē-miyo-mahcihoyān (these are the things that need to happen if I want to be healthy). The néhiyawak in this study described holistic health determinants that correlate with the medicine wheel and the determinants of health, and described these holistic health determinants as making a positive difference to their mental health and as necessary for them to obtain optimal mental health and well-being. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that mental health programming and interventions should be harmonious with Indigenous culture; utilize a holistic approach that takes physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being into consideration; and address the existing mental health disparities using the determinants of health as a framework, with an increased focus on the current socio-economic status of Indigenous peoples in Canada. BioMed Central 2016-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5031327/ /pubmed/27688797 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13033-016-0086-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Graham, Holly
Martin, Stephanie
Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective
title Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective
title_full Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective
title_fullStr Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective
title_full_unstemmed Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective
title_short Narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (Plains Cree) perspective
title_sort narrative descriptions of miyo-mahcihoyān (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being) from a contemporary néhiyawak (plains cree) perspective
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27688797
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13033-016-0086-2
work_keys_str_mv AT grahamholly narrativedescriptionsofmiyomahcihoyanphysicalemotionalmentalandspiritualwellbeingfromacontemporarynehiyawakplainscreeperspective
AT martinstephanie narrativedescriptionsofmiyomahcihoyanphysicalemotionalmentalandspiritualwellbeingfromacontemporarynehiyawakplainscreeperspective